Predictors of Dieting and Disordered Eating Behaviors From Adolescence to Young Adulthood

doi:10.1016/j.jadohealth.2014.04.016

Journal of Adolescent Health

Volume 55, Issue 5, November 2014, Pages 705-712

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jadohealth.2014.04.016 Get rights and content

Abstract

Purpose

To identify personal and socioenvironmental factors associated with the persistence of dieting or disordered eating from adolescence to young adulthood and factors associated with the initiation of dieting or disordered eating during young adulthood.

Methods

Participants (n = 4,746) completed EAT-I surveys as adolescents; EAT-III surveys were completed 10 years later by 1,902 of the original participants (1,082 females and 820 males).

Results

Study results indicate that there are personal factors, including weight concerns, weight importance, depressive symptoms and body satisfaction, present during adolescence that are predictive of an individual's engagement in dieting or disordered eating behaviors 10 years later. For example, among both males and females, weight importance was found to be predictive of continued dieting and disordered eating from adolescence through young adulthood. For example, 26.1% of males with low levels of weight concern at baseline reported engaging in persistent disordered eating as compared with 60.4% of males with high levels of weight concern at baseline (prevalence difference: 34.3; 95% confidence interval: 10.5–58.1; p < .01). Parental weight concerns, peer dieting, and weight teasing at baseline were not found to be predictive of dieting or disordered eating at 10-year follow-up.

Conclusions

Personal factors identified during adolescence were found to be predictive of both persistent dieting and disordered eating from adolescence into young adulthood, as well as initiation of these behaviors during young adulthood. In particular, weight concerns and weight importance were found to be predictive in most models providing support for inclusion of these factors in adolescent health screening.

Section snippets

Study design and participants

Participants were recruited as part of Project EAT-III, a 10-year prospective, epidemiologic study designed to explore dietary intake, physical activity, weight control behaviors, weight status, and factors associated with these outcomes in a diverse sample of young people. In-class surveys (Project EAT-I) were administered, and height and weight were assessed during the 1998–1999 school year (baseline) among 4,746 junior and senior high school students (aged 11–18 years) at public schools in

Predictors of continued dieting and disordered eating from adolescence to young adulthood

Among males, high weight concern and weight importance at baseline were predictive of continued disordered eating from baseline to follow-up after adjustment for adolescent race and/or ethnicity, SES, and weight status. Table 1 (males) and Table 2 (females) display full details about predictors of persistent dieting or disordered eating from adolescence to young adulthood. Results show that among males with low weight concern at baseline only 26.1% reported engaging in persistent disordered

Discussion

The present study examined predictors of initiation or persistence of dieting and disordered eating over a 10-year period among adolescent males and females. Study results revealed a small set of personal factors, including weight concerns, weight importance, and depressive symptoms, present during adolescence that are predictive of engaging in dieting and disordered eating during young adulthood for males and females, suggesting that these individual-level variables play an important role in

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Original articlePredictors of Dieting and Disordered Eating Behaviors From Adolescence to Young Adulthood

Abstract

Purpose

Methods

Results

Conclusions

Section snippets

Study design and participants

Predictors of continued dieting and disordered eating from adolescence to young adulthood

Discussion

MMWR Surveill Summ

J Am Acad Child Adolesc Psychiatry

Prev Med

J Adolesc Health

J Am Diet Assoc

Clin Psychol Rev

Behav Res Ther

J Am Acad Child Adolesc Psychiatry

J Am Acad Child Adolesc Psychiatry

J Am Diet Assoc

J Psychosom Res

J Psychosom Res

Behav Res Ther

J Am Diet Assoc

Review of the prevalence and incidence of eating disorders

Int J Eat Disord

Disordered eating and substance use in high-school students: Results from the Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System

Int J Eat Disord

Psychological and behavioral risk factors for obesity onset in adolescent girls: A prospective study

J Consult Clin Psychol

Psychiatric comorbidity in patients with eating disorders

Psychol Med

Onset of adolescent eating disorders: Population based cohort study over 3 years

BMJ

Fasting increases risk for onset of binge eating and bulimic pathology: A 5-year prospective study

J Abnorm Psychol

Original article
Predictors of Dieting and Disordered Eating Behaviors From Adolescence to Young Adulthood